Steep Opec production cuts could ease an oil market surplus quicker than expected in 2017, the oil cartel signalled in its first output assessment since a deal to curb supplies and bolster prices came into effect. After more than two years of allowing market forces to balance supply and demand, Opec in November agreed to again influence prices that had crashed in a manner that was far more severe than anticipated. A year of talks and diplomatic wrangling between ministers of Opec’s resource-rich economies that had been battered by the oil downturn led to the first supply cut deal since the financial crisis. Opec agreed to reduce its output by around 1.2m barrels a day starting in 2017. A calculation using the 13-member group’s January production numbers, which were published on Monday, suggested curbs of around 1.1m b/d from Opec’s October baseline numbers. This implies more than 90 per cent compliance in the first month of the six-month deal to tackle excess inventories.